


lingering notes

by penthepoet



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5
Genre: Adachi has nightmares, Domestic Fluff, Implications of Persona 4 stuff, M/M, PTSD Adachi, Piano, Short One Shot, Slice of Life, Spoilers for Spectral Redeemers au, post-Accomplice Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:47:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23531062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penthepoet/pseuds/penthepoet
Summary: Tohru Adachi wakes up to a pleasant morning and an even more pleasant surprise from his partner, Kunikazu.-Spoilers for the Spectral Redeemers au.This fic came about in exchange for a gift salmonandsoup sent over to me - happy late birthday, and thank you for the gift!
Relationships: Adachi Tohru/Okumura Kunikazu
Kudos: 5





	lingering notes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [salmonandsoup](https://archiveofourown.org/users/salmonandsoup/gifts).



Tohru Adachi always wakes up with a process. It’s a matter of orienting himself - getting himself in the right mindset to start the day for once. There are questions he always asks, things to confirm what he’s going through is real.  _ Where am I?  _ For starters, he’s in Kunikazu’s apartment. It’s a simple flat - none too elegant, considering the man is on the run. Regardless, it’s just a cut above the kind of place Adachi’s used to living in. 

First question answered. Second question comes next.  _ Has anything happened to me while I slept?  _ He pats down the length of his own body. He tends to have nightmares about what happened in Inaba. Vivid, phantasmic screamers that leave him launching up in bed and force Kunikazu to comfort him back to sleep. Sometimes the nightmares are so vivid he finds himself hallucinating even as he launches awake. The feeling of Izanami’s eyes on him, the disappointed tone of that damn boss’s voice ringing in his ears, the smell of Junes take out and the Sunday nights he spent with Naru- 

He stops himself there. Those memories are too painful to think of. That life isn’t his, not anymore. Regardless, his shoulders slump with relief. It’s good to know that his body is his own.

The next question is one he tries to answer through half-blurry vision and a low yawn.  _ Oh-kay, where’s Kuni?  _ He fumbles around the bed, his hands making a sweeping motion across the bed similar to a person directing traffic. The sheets tangle around his legs. His vision stubbornly remains blurry, his mind still in that coffee-deprived state of half-awake.

Nothing. Kunikazu Okumura just simply isn’t there. Tohru sighs. He fishes around on the bedside table for his glasses, donning them carefully. Time to go look for the man himself, he figures. He slides himself onto his feet, taking a deep breath in. It’s grounding. Helps keep him here, keep him on the straight and narrow. Kunikazu always seems to stress that to Adachi -  _ Deep breaths,  _ he often says,  _ keep your mind on what you can sense like touch, smell and sound.  _

Well, Adachi can feel the cheap carpet under his feet. It makes a muffled rustling noise as he steps up and starts pulling some more clothes on besides his boxers. Coffee would help him get his thoughts together, Adachi figures. Plus, the smell of it always seems to lure Kunikazu into the kitchen, most times. 

Adachi shuffles his way to the kitchen. Once more, it’s rather humble - it smells like apples and the cabinets are packed together. Akechi’s sitting at the table, digging into a plate of tamagoyaki. Adachi pats his shoulder as he passes by the young man, blurting out something that vaguely sounded like a “G’morn, kid.” “Likewise” is Akechi’s reply.

Adachi loses himself in the process of making coffee in the coffee machine. He’d gotten good at it, over the years. He’d fixed many cups of coffee, for all sorts of people, but it’s Kunikazu’s order he’s most fond of -  _ good helping of milk, a nice dash of sugar. _

Once he has it done, he takes a sip of his own coffee. His mind sharpens immediately, and he sighs, letting a nice shiver run through him. Then he realizes something - a sound that’s been drifting through the air since he woke up. 

Somebody is playing piano. 

Adachi, holding both his mug and Kunikazu’s, makes his way towards the sound. His head cocks a little to the left, his steps over-cautious and slow like he’s trying not to step on thumbtacks. He can see the coffee sloshing around in the mugs, and his heart shakes a little upward. Finally, he stops at the doorway and sees the source of the noise.

His grip on the mugs goes tight when he looks at Kunikazu playing piano. 

Adachi can’t put a name to the song. He’s not that familiar with classical music, but the way Kunikazu plays sounds nostalgic. Adachi closes his eyes, relaxing. Just hearing it puts his nerves at ease. 

When you love someone, he thinks, you’re always finding out new things about them. This is no different. He doesn’t realize he’s humming along until Kunikazu chuckles. 

“Tohru, I don’t bite. Come, sit next to me.”

Tohru’s eyes blink open. “Oh! Uh, sure thing.” He shuffles over, placing Kunikazu’s cup of coffee on the piano next to his own. 

When Tohru looks up at Kunikazu, Kunikazu is smiling back at him. 

“I’m lucky I met you, you know.”

Tohru chuckles, but his tone very clearly has a tone of disbelief in it - fear, even.

“Don’t give me that.”

Kunikazu’s face falls slightly, a hand coming up to Tohru’s cheek. “Tohru, I…” 

He pauses, his lips pursing together slightly. “Damnit, the words aren’t coming to mind.”

“Take your time?”

Kunikazu falls silent again for a minute or two, his palm flat and still against Tohru’s face.

“... to me, it’s lucky. You know how these things are.”

Tohru raises an eyebrow. “Go on.”

Kunikazu’s other hand pauses in its playing. He takes a deep breath, pushing Tohru’s other hair aside to give the man a kiss upon the forehead. His hand goes to the back of Tohru’s forehead, cradling it gently as he does so. 

“That’s how I’ve been lucky,” Kunikazu sighs against Tohru’s forehead, and at once both his hands are back on the keyboard. 

Tohru just sits there for a minute, in a bit of a daze after such a kiss. Sometimes Kunikazu takes the words right out of his mouth, and this occasion is no exception. He finds a weirdly goofy, enamored grin spreading on his face. 

“So, who taught you to play piano?”

“My tutors. They were…” Kunikazu’s hands clench and unclench, his face morphing into a wince. “Not the best about teaching me properly. It took me a long while to even get back into it - listening to the classics, understanding how the songs were made, studying on my own time.”

He looks back at Tohru, his hands and face relaxing into a softer form.

“... Would you like to learn, Tohru?”

Tohru pauses.

“Sure… why not?”

**Author's Note:**

> Something a bit new, I suppose.  
> Hopefully you guys enjoy this!
> 
> For those who want to find out more about the stuff I do, I'd recommend checking out some of the personal pages on my [Tumblr](https://penthepoet.tumblr.com) or following my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/penthepoet). I've got a lot of cool projects I'm cooking up.


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